Run and Be Happy!

I slipped into this race at the last minute.  I was a little nervous and not sure I'd be ready for a marathon, since I'd only run about 17.5 before.  It was such a fun experience and so great to spend time with my sisters and meet new friends. 

Super hot weather in Boston - 87 degrees.  MaryMary and I changed our plan of attack and kept it comfortable.  Stopped and walked at every water/gatorade station.  MaryMary coached me through the nutrition and I'm glad we ate and drank as much as we did: Breakfast was bagel & 1/2 oatmeal, 1/2 a scone, banana, gatorade.  A little later I had a melaleuca bar, then a gu right before the start & 2 salt pills.  Jelly beans  - 2 packs up through mile 8-9, mile 12-GU, 1 more salt pill, mile 18 - GU, mile 23 1/2 a GU. 

This race was fun with lots of energy.  The spectators were incredible.  I have never been more happy in my life to see a popsicle offered to me.  They also had their garden hoses out to cool us off, ice cubes, fruit, and candy.  MaryMary and I kept an ok running paced mixed with lots of walking breaks. - It was so fun to run with her! I'm glad I wasn't alone those 4 hours.  Felt great at mile 20 and up heartbreakhill.  Mary and I picked up the pace a little.  Felt really good the last mile and wanted to speed up so I could finish sooner.

Crossed the finish and my feet were on FIRE.  Took my shoes off imediately.  Had some bad blisters and will lose a few toenails. Oh well, it was worth it!

I will try to wait at least 7 days before running agian. 

Happy Birthday to me!  I got some new running shoes for my birthday - I've worn Asics for years, but at the St. George Running Center, I was told I didn't need that much cusion or stability.  I'm going to try some Brooks that are way lighter than the Gel Nimbus and fit my heels much better.  They are super bright red/yellow.  I'll probably wait til monday to try them out.

Felt great to be able to run again w/ my friends.  I turned back a little sooner - i didn't want to push it.  My toes hurt a little with each step, but it was manageable.  My left side feels a little tight still from the marathon - needs to be rolled out more.

Only 3.7 miles - what should have been easy - felt really difficult today.  Maybe because it was 4:40 p.m. , full belly from too much food today, warm, muggy weather, and I pushed 2 of my boys in the bike trailer.  Overall my legs feel good.  My big toes are still really tender, so I think I changed my gait a little to compensate for this.  The new Brooks shoes feel good and light.  

4 miles - shortened trail run w/ friends.  I was huffing and puffing to keep up at the sub 8:00 pace - maybe that week off was not great for my conditioning.  One friend and I turned back early and slowed just a little.  My legs/hips are still feeling a little weird from recovering from my first marathon.

Tomorrow I will go longer and slower and I hope to be back into full training mode next week to get ready for Utah Valley in 6 weeks. 

 Total time: 32 mins. 

Ran with Annie today - this was a fun run around the beautiful St. George Virgin River trail system.  The weather was perfect and it was nice to start a run at a time that didn't begin with 5 something a.m.  This run was "easy" for her, but I was huffing a puffing a little more than she was.  I could still carry on a conversation just fine, so I guess the pace was fine.  My knee is a little sore after this, so I will rest it for a couple of days and then go easy on my own Mon or Tues.   

9.25 miles - AP: 8:25

Totally forgot to set my alarm, but happened to wake up at 6 - so I missed the first part of the run w/ the group - met them on the trail, then ran the last 4 miles w/ them. 

My legs/knee felt good - gotta keep stretching that ITBand!

AP: 8:25 

AP - 8:05 

5:30 a.m run w/ my friends that are a little faster and in better shape than I am.  :)

 Wow, was this tough!  It felt good, though, to push myself to keep up.  We ran all around St. George including through downtown where the Ironman finish is today.  We are going later to cheer on the athletes on their final marathon. 

I feel so tired and hungry right now like I just ran a half marathon.  Actually the first 13 miles, we ran in 1:45, so for me - that was a pretty fast half marathon I did today!  Luckily I had an energy bar/banana before going out and Annie shared her GU with me when we stopped for a drink.

I will definitely slow it way down next week for the 18. 

Gotta go stretch. 

The weather was so perfect this morning! - 50 something, a little cold at first, but then perfect as we got going.   Also the moon was so bright when I walked out the door- it was so cool looking.

 I drove to the trail and ran w/ the group.  We went pretty quick today for the first 5.5 miles. (AP 7:30)  This was tough with how my legs were feeling sore from Saturday still, but I figure it is good marathon training to run on tired legs and mentally push through it.  After getting back to the trail we slowed down the pace for the last 3 miles (AP 8:30).

So fun to be out in the morning with my friends, (especially when they push me like this). 

Ran from Mom's house - always a steep hill everywhere up there - ended up going up Emigration canyon.  My lungs felt a little tight at the higher altitude - especially going uphill. Hopefully they will feel ok at UtahValley since it is mostly downhill. Had to keep the run short because of all the family events going on.

Early morning run w/ the group.  I ran to the trail instead of driving and I think it was good for me to run alone the first mile and warm-up.  Felt ok today keeping the faster pace for the last few miles under 7:30.  My knee is feeling better, I just need to keep stretching that IT band.  Overall AP 8:00.

AP-8:50  I felt good on this long run.  It was nice to run relaxed and slow- We went up Dixie all the way up to Snow Canyon Pkwy, then down Diagonal and finished on the trail.  I added on a few extra miles to get to 18.  I brought a couple of GUs and they helped keep me energized.  I also found a dollar in my pocket, so we stopped for a Diet coke break around mile 8.  The first 7 miles of this run were mostly uphill, then downhill as we came through town.  We saw someone we knew on the trail and slowed quite a bit to chat with him - this was at about 14-15 miles and the slowing down really made all of my aches and pains evident.  After the run it was a crazy busy day, so not very much time for stretching and resting - I was tired.

AP-8:00  Morning trail run w/ group plus loop.  My legs/knee are feeling good.  I had a lot of energy after pigging out on mother's Day.  :)

Treadmill run at the hotel.  I really don't like running on the treadmill.  So, to make this more interesting I did some interval running.  5:00 min warm-up at 6.5, then I did intervals of faster running at 9-10 mph for 1 minute with a 1 minute jog in between.  A couple of the intervals I held for an extra 30 seconds and the last one for 2 minutes.  The fastest I went was 10.5, and that was hard to even stay on the treadmill.  Back to 6.5 at the end for cooldown.  Total distance 5 mi - time 40 min.

Ran with Paul - it has probably been 2 years since we've run together.  This was his longest run so far this year as he works up his mileage for the Bryce Canyon 1/2.  We left a little later than I wanted to, so the sun was up and it was a warm morning in LakeLasVegas.  We took it easy and found a loop we could do twice.  The last few miles, I started to get antsy to get back to our room and check on the kids, so I picked up the pace and kicked it in.  I felt pretty good the whole time even though it was warm & a hilly run.

Early Morning long run.  pace ave- 8:34.(not including a couple of pit-stops).  We did a similar loop to last Sat.   I always like when I have run somewhere before - then I know what to expect.  I ran w/ 2 friends for the first 13 miles - we had a pretty good pace going, especially coming downhill through Diagonal & Main. I brought a water bottle and some GuChomps - these gave me a stomach ache- thus the pit-stop at Maverick @ mile 14.  I also had some $ so I could fill my bottle w/ Gatorade - I think this really helped give me the energy for those last miles.  At mile 15 Abby called, but my phone wasn't working right, so I ran home to get her.  She got on her bike and rode by me for miles 17 & 18, then the energy from the Gatorade kicked in, so I decided to go another mile.  It felt pretty good, but my legs are really tired and sore now - and I have a new blister on my toe- I should have worn my good running socks today.  Just ate a big breakfast burrito, so now I feel really good!

Tired from 19 on Sat and staying up too late last night.  Other than that, this was a great early-morning run.  The pace ave was 7:50.  The loop for warm-up & cooldown was at about a 8:10 pace and the rest of the run around 7:20-7:30.  It felt fast, but good.  I can now talk a little easier at this pace.  I will give my legs a rest tomorrow.

Super hard run this morning in Snow Canyon.  It has been since early April that I've gone on this run.  It was beautiful and fun to be back up in the canyon, especially with the earlier sun-rise.  We ran up to the top of the canyon and back down - going up we had a pretty good pace going around 8:30-9:00, which felt fast going up-hill.  The last 2 miles going up, I was working super hard and couldn't hardly talk at all.  My breathing was so heaving going up that slope-I sounded like a dog and I actually had to walk a few seconds to catch my breath before I reached the top.  We took a break at the top, and then again at the campground for water.  The weather was hot and windy-I wish I had brought my water bottle.  Coming down the mountain, we ran really fast.  I had an event to get to at 7:20, so I was trying to get down quickly.  I had a hard time staying with my friends the first mile going down at the 7:00 pace.  I could not breathe!  The drink stop at the campground revived me and we maintained a pace of around 7 - 7:25 for the rest of the run.  This was an awesome workout!

Pace: 7:50.  I pushed through this one and almost stopped 1 1/2 miles early because I had nothing left.  I decided to keep going and finish the whole loop.  My legs were fatigued from the canyon run and doing squats/lunges yesterday.  I feel good now, and I'm glad I stayed with the group.  Hopefully when I push through and complete these runs even when I feel completely "off" will make me mentally stronger and improve my endurance for the marathon.

Felt good today - maybe because of all the french fries last night.  :)  I also had a melaleuca bar before we started and a gu around mile 6.  We ended pretty fast on this one, but overall averaged 8:10.

ave pace: 8:15.  Regular Mon morning loop - we really took it easy at first, but then picked up the pace about 1/2 way.  I was a little nervous going over the slightly burnt bridge over the river - we will have to find a new route until that is fixed.  My left foot has been hurting a little this weekend, but today it felt ok after a couple of miles.  Now we get to go wakeboarding!!

6 miles - pretty good pace, but felt easy.

8 miles - not good to take 5 days off in a row - I really felt a difference today.  I was just too worn out  from going to Disneyland from open-close 3 days in a row last week. 

4 quick miles - my ankle is feeling ok - not sure what I did to it at Disneyland.  Feels ok running, but hurts if I turn my foot in.  weird.  I will take a few days off to rest for the marathon Sat.

2 easy "dress rehearsal" miles.

A beautiful marathon course! - reminded me of the year we lived in Heber and I would drive this canyon all the time to go down to Orem.  The weather was cool, but super windy - there were white caps on the reservoir.  I felt really great and kept a pace of around 7:50 for most of the run (a little slower uphill and faster the first 6 downhill miles) - plus a few stops here and there - making my average overall pace 8:13.   After the first 1/2 I had a few stomach issues and had to make 2 bathrooms stops- I was able to keep these under about a minute each and was able to catch up with the pack.  I also stopped and walked a little at the aid stations to get the water/gatorade down, but kept the walk breaks short.  I still felt really good until about mile 21 - then I just wanted to stop - but I kept going at a sub-8:00 pace for the next few miles.  These miles were tough!  I got to mile 25 at about 3:24 and I thought that I should be fine to be under 3:35 for the marathon - 10 1/2  minutes for 1.2 miles should be plenty of time.  At mile 26 my body slowed WAY down and would not move like I wanted it to - this was really hard on me because I knew at that point I would not make it under 3:35, but I could not get my body to move any faster.  (I guess now I know what bonking feels like ).  I crossed the finish and almost collapsed.  My friend was there to help me out and a volunteer - I started getting really dizzy & seeing black spots, so they walked me over to the med tent to lay down for a while.  I am very happy and proud for a new marathon PR, but a tiny bit disappointed missing BQ by just 19 seconds - oh well, I will get it here in St. George on my home court!

For nutrition - I ate breakfast (around 3:30) - bagel w/ peanut butter, then a little later I had a banana.  Right before the 6 am start, I had a GU.  During the race I think I had 4 or 4 1/2 GUs, w/ some jelly beans as well occasionally & 1/2 a banana at one of the aid stations.  I probably should have had a little more towards the end.  I know I had a GU at mile 19, but I'm not sure if I had anything after that - maybe that is one of the reasons my body bonked.  This is really difficult for me to figure out the right amount of fuel to take to give me energy, but not make my stomach too upset.

Overall it was a great experience and lots of fun!

My first day back running after Utah Valley - it has been 10 days since I ran the marathon, and I was ready to come back.  I probably should have just done an easy run, but all of my friends were going to the DSC track for speedwork w/ the St. George Running Center group, so I decided to join them.  I told myself I would take it easy, but I think I may have pushed it a little too much.  My left side is already feeling a little tight - I need to make sure to stretch it out today.  I had no watch which maybe was a good thing today - it felt like I was going fast, but my actual pace was probably not that fast.

Here's what we did:

1600 warm-up

1200 - fast/slow every 100 meters 

1600 x 2 w/ 800 recovery jog in between

800 x 2 w/ 400 recovery

400 x 2 w/ 200 recovery

400 recovery

3 x bleacher stairs - up&down 

Ave pace-8:15 - Indian Hills loop - my legs were still tired from Tuesday speedwork (& the marathon I think).  But I do love early morning runs w/ my friends.  :)

Trail loop, pace ave 8:15 - another day w/ heavy,tired legs, trying to get back into the swing of things.  This run was pretty hot, but felt a little better on the trail w/ the cool air coming off the river.

14 mile run w/ St George Running Center group.  We meet w/ the group and got dropped off in Dameron Valley - the ride up was fun and reminded me of the old cross country days - lots of people piled into our suburban at 5 a.m. ready to run.  This was a lot of fun to start out a run w/ a big group.  Paul also ran this and it was the furthest he has gone ever.  He did great.  My friends and I took it pretty easy for the first 5 miles, which felt good - It seems to always take me a few miles to warm up.  After that, we started to pick up the pace.  By the end, I was feeling awesome and sped up a little more coming into St. George - my last 4 miles were each between 6:48 & 7:08.  Overall the pace was 7:45 (not counting 1 pit-stop).  It felt great running downhill and now today my legs are only a tiny bit sore - I guess that means they are adapting to this new obsession of mine.  :)

After the run, I felt a little sick in the stomach all day - I think it was either the JellyBelly Beans & or the Sodium S-Cap pill I had - most likely the beans- will not eat those again. 

8 1/2 mile loop- Pace-8:30.  We were all a little tired from Sat's run.  Felt good to take it a little easy.

Snow Canyon run - beautiful & lots of fun.  I love the challenge of running uphill - it feels great to get my heart-rate up so high, even though my body is not moving very fast.  We came down at about a 7:30-40 pace-  going up was a lot slower making the whole run just under 9:00 pace overall.

Snow Canyon Run

4th of July neighborhood 5K - Warm-up jog from elem school - Overall my time for the 5k was 23:03, but I think this may have been about .1 miles too long.  this was really hard - I'd almost rather run a 1/2 marathon - my ave pace was about 7:05 - maybe I needed to warm-up more.  Maybe I'll improve my speed w/ the track workouts.

3 easy miles w/ Cathy - just trying to make up a little for all the reunion eating on Thursday.

11 mile run solo in Bountiful - I couldn't get anyone else at the reunion to commit to a run, so I went alone - I was in a rush to get out the door and I never found any headphones or ipod - so this was a solo & quiet run.  Nice for a while then got a little boring.  my ave pace was 8:45 which is ok considering the steep Bountiful hill for the last 1.2 miles.

trail loop - ave pace 8:00

Track workout - 1 mile x 3 at 1/2 marathon pace - I ended up going a little faster than 1/2 marathon pace: 7:15, 7:08, 7:04 

I really enjoyed this race - the weather was nice - just a little drizzle.  the rain didn't really start until after we were at the finish.  The scenery was beautiful.  I felt great on this run- I was very careful not to take this out too fast.  My 2 slowest miles were 1&2.  I think this helped me to get warmed up and adjusted to the higher altitude.  Miles 3-5 were really steep downhill.  People were flying past me.  Somehow I need to figure out how to run faster downhill and not put the breaks on so much.  On some of the few uphill climbs I was able to pass some and also the last few miles I passed a bunch of people.  I felt great the last mile and really kicked it in.  This was one of my fastest miles.  This was super fun especially since a bunch of my friends were there from St. George & my sister and her husband, and my husband also ran this as his first 1/2.  they all did great.

3 really slow miles - working out the sore muscles from Bryce Canyon.

8.5 miles - steep hills climbing up above Bear Lake - went w/ Doug.

1 mile warm-up, then 8x800 w/ 400 recovery

each were between 3:28-3:45 (the slower ones towards the end due to the out-n-back w/ the incline and fatigue)

Ran from Dad's cabin in St. Charles, ID down to the family reunion on the south side of Bear Lake.  This was pretty slow (8:45) pace and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Bear Lake - it was fun to do a point-to-point run w/ my family waiting at the end for me w/ a yummy breakfast.  My lungs were a little tight throughout the day yesterday.  I think the 6000+ elevation got to me a little.

Beautiful trail run at Bryce Canyon - I ran from the Sunrise point (stopped to watch the sunrise), then up and down the rim trail almost all the way to Bryce Point.

Loved this run even though I was pretty slow and I felt the 8000+ elevation.

82 degrees at 7 a.m. - I was tired & hot!

Ran to DHHS track - and jogged around the track for a 2 mile warm-up

3 mile repeats w/ 800 recovery jog:

7:20, 7:19, 7:17  - these felt good and I did not want to push it too much since I will be running a 1/2 marathon this weekend.

1 mile cool-down back home. 

I had a fun time at this race.  Mike's family camped out at the start and I went up last night to hang out for a while up there.  then in the morning Natalie and I rode the bus up and went to the campsite again to relax and meet up w/ Rachel & Mike.  I was pretty tired from getting no sleep.

I ran w/ Mike for about 7 1/2 miles.  Then I sped up a tiny bit on miles 7,8,9 - Mike ended up only a couple of minutes behind me.  We tried to be careful to not go out too fast and I did a good job of making my miles splits pretty even.  Mile 7 was a little slower because I had to stop to gaag down the GU & drink.  Mile 10 was a little slow, but I had was able to speed back up for the last three.  The downhill on this run was nice and not too steep down like Bryce.  I really liked this beautiful course!  The race was a little cheep w/ the aid stations, race packets, & treats at the end - but that's ok.

Fun to have another PR!  I felt like I ran strong & hard, but not too hard that I ever felt sick.  I like when I feel great during a race!

Slow miles- didn't even bring my watch. My legs were pretty sore from the 1/2- my left leg especially.

My left leg still not feeling so good after Saturday's run.  This run was at about 8-8:20 min pace, but felt a lot faster maybe because of the muggy weather or because of my sore left leg.  I will take another day off before the long run Sat.

20 miles on the marathon course.  I felt pretty good energywise, but my leg was hurting a little the last few miles so I didn't push the speed - I didn't have my watch which was actually kinda nice - no pressure and the miles seemed to go by pretty quickly.  We finished in less than 3 hours which included 2 pit-stops & and a couple of water walking breaks.  Now I need to strech my IT band and hip - I may redue my mid-week running so that I don't worsen this injury.

High-elevation hill run at ZionPonderosa Resort.  Hopefully this will help me get ready for the RedRockRelay next weekend.  I was super exhausted after though - maybe because of the high elevation.

Red Rock Relay

1st run - 4.6 gradual uphill the whole way.  The hill did not get me here - it was the high elevation that slowed me down a little on this run.  My lungs were burning!  This was at about 9500 ft.  I managed to keep the run around 8:40 which was slower than I was hoping for, but I know I worked hard.  I passed 2 people on this run. Luckily someone at the top of my run let me use a few puffs of his inhaler - grateful for that or I would have been coughing all night.

Midnight run - 3.6 miles - I felt great on this run.  This was a gradual, but slightly steaper hill heading from Enterprise up into Dixie National Forest.  The elevation was high, but nothing like the last run.  around 6000 ft.  I tried not to look at my watch and just judge my speed based on how I was feeling. I know I was working hard and it felt great.  I passed 11 people on this run, I was motivated by each red light up ahead of me and I worked to catch up with them.  My pace ended up being 8:10 which for me is good going uphill.

Red Rock Relay

I split my last leg w/ Brook since the guys took one extra leg.  I ran 2.5 miles on a hilly course in Hurricane.  It was kind of fun going up and down those rollers.  My energy was great on this run, but the run was so short.  I was finished right when I was just getting into the groove.

A little while later, Brook was done with the other 1/2, but Cheri was in the bathroom, so I took the bracelet and headed up the hill in Hurricane for about a minute or two till they caught up w/ me - it was fun running up that hill knowing I would be rescued any minute. :)

Later we met up with Annie & Jake's van - I ran w/ Annie for a mile of her tough 7 mile leg.  She was doing awesome and it was fun to see her.  I let her go ahead and decided I would just run and slow it down for a while.  After pushing myself, it felt good to just run slow for a few miles and loosen up.

Easy short run to loosen up after the deep-tissue massage yesterday. 

Snow Canyon - early morning run.  We really took it a little slower than usual, which felt good.  There was a lot of dirt, sand and rocks on the road from the flood yesterday and I hurt my toe a little on a rock.  All day my left knee/outer thigh, glute have been really aching even with icing a few times.  Not sure if I should run again before the long one on Sat.

speed workout - DSC track

14x400 

Treadmill workout in Deer Valley - tough with the high elevation.

3 miles - from Mom's to the zoo and up emigration canyon.  Mary's hip was hurting so we walked a little.  My hip was hurting throughout the day, too - probably from the steep downhill.

Run w/ Cheryl, Mary, and Cheryl's friend Kelli - around Sugarhouse park and looped around and around the sugarhouse neighborhood.  Then ran up to mom's - that was a great workout running about 2.5 miles strait uphill

5k in Midway - 21:38 - 3rd place.  this was a fun race, only cost $5 and we got some cute shirts for the kids, and I won some prizes for placing.  We also won an entry to a half marathon in October up there at the Deer Creek Reservoir.

I did not have my garmin so I'm not sure how my pacing was on this.  It would be interesting to do another 5K and see if a watch would help.

My lungs were really burning the whole time on this run from the high elevation and cold air.

After the awards, I ran back to the cabin on the other side of Heber for another 5 miles slow - it was such a beautiful morning and this was such a nice way to start off Thanksgiving. 

40 minute walk w/ Paul's family - I felt antsy and ran some of the uphills.

6 mile nice and easy run up in Heber.  Ran uphill the first 3, then down.